218 



CONNECTICUT. 



to bring about a resumption of specie payments, that 

 the evil of a depreciated paper currency may be re- 

 moved, and the best possible measure of value fur- 

 nished us : third, retaining a tariff sufficient to raise 

 the needed revenue, we would have it carefully ad- 

 justed to favor American industry, working rather 

 to interests widely extended than to merely local 

 and limited pursuits ; fourth, a perfected system of 

 national banks, with abundant security to the bill- 

 holder, and inflexible and peremptory laws for 

 prompt redemption ; fifth, the abolition of the frank- 

 ing privilege ; sixth, that public lauds shall no more 

 be granted to corporations, but given in limited 

 quantities to actual settlers. 



6. For fifteen years the Eepublican party has con- 

 trolled the legislation of Connecticut. Let the rec- 

 ord show whether it is the friend and promoter of 

 peace, law, order, charity, temperance, industry, and 

 education. What it has been it will be, only better. 

 To any measure that on mature deliberation promises 

 to aid the interests of temperance, education, and la- 

 bor, we will give our warmest support. 



7. We unreservedly commend the General Assem- 

 bly for its firm execution of a constitutional process 

 in correcting infamous election frauds last year. To 

 the best of its ability the Kepublican party saw to it 

 that every honest vote, and none other, was counted 

 once and no more. The happy ruin of the Tammany 

 Ring encourages us to believe that the work will be 

 easier hereafter. 



8. That in addition to the legitimate duties and 

 rights of counsel and citizens in appearing before 

 the legislative committees and urging action upon 

 the legislators, there have grown up corrupt and dan- 

 gerous practices in the lobby, which call for a renewal 

 of watchfulness in the Legislature, and a higher tone 

 of public sentiment. 



9. That it is the duty of the State to be vigilant in 

 the protection of the rights and interests of the peo- 

 ple against the encroachments of powerful corpora- 

 tions, and especially in holding corporations strictly 

 to the responsibilities and duties contemplated in 

 their charters. 



10. While recognizing the fundamental principles 

 which have brought unparalleled success to our coun- 

 try, and believing that only a republic should exist 

 on this continent, we would urge upon our repre- 

 sentatives in Congress to keep before them the great 

 ideas of liberty and freedom which have been so 

 identified with our great party of progress from its 

 birth ; and we would earnestly desire to extend all 

 sympathy and aid consistent with curability to other 

 nations and people struggling to be free. 



11. We unqualifiedly approve of the administra- 

 tion of Governor Jewell and his associates, of which 

 we give the highest evidence in our power by unani- 

 mously recommending them for reelection and pledg- 

 ing our utmost efforts to secure that end. 



The Democrats assembled in State Conven- 

 tion at Hartford, on the 6th of February, 1872, 

 and unanimously nominated the following can- 

 didates for the State offices : For Governor, 

 Richard D. Hubbard, of Hartford ; Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Charles Atwater, of New Haven; 

 Secretary of State, John W. Stedman, of Nor- 

 wich ; Treasurer, Milo B. Richardson, of Salis- 

 bury ; Comptroller, Thomas Sandford, of Red- 

 ding. The resolutions adopted were as follows : 



Resolved, That the Democrats of Connecticut regard 

 emancipation, equality of civil rights, and enfran- 

 chisement, as established facts, now embodied inthe 

 Constitution, and deserving the support of good citi- 

 zens of all parties. 



Resolved, That true and lasting peace can come 

 only from such profound reconciliation as enfran- 

 chisement has brought to the State of Missouri; nor 

 can those governments be pure or great in which the 



tax-payers have no active part. We therefore de- 

 mand, with equal suffrage for all, complete amnesty 

 for all that the intellect and experience of every 

 State may be welcomed to active service for the com- 

 mon welfare. 



Resolved, That no form of taxation is just or wise 

 which puts needless burdens upon the people. We 

 demand a genuine reform of tariff, so that those du- 

 ties shall be removed, which, in addition to the rev- 

 enue yielded to the Treasury, involve an increase in 

 the price of domestic products, and a consequent 

 tax for the benefit of favored interests. 



Resolved, That the shameless abuse of government 

 patronage for the control of conventions and elec- 

 tions, whether in the interest of an individual fac- 

 tion or of a party,, with its consequent corruption and 

 demoralization or political life, demands a thorough 

 and genuine reform of the public service. Those 

 who would suppress investigation forget they owe a 

 higher duty to the country than to party. We honor 

 those Senators whose courageous course has com- 

 pelled the disclosure of gross misdeeds, and they de- 

 serve the thanks and hearty support of all good citi- 

 zens. 



Resolved, That local self-government, with impar- 

 tial suffrage, will guard the rights of all citizens 

 more securely than any centralized authority. It is 

 time to stop the growing encroachments of the ex- 

 ecutive power, the use of coercion or bribery to rat- 

 ify a treaty, the packing of a Supreme Court to re- 

 lieve rich corporations, the seating of members of 

 Congress not elected by the people, the resort to un- 

 constitutional laws to cure the Ku-klux disorder. 

 We demand for the individual the largest liberty 

 consistent with public order, for the State self-gov- 

 ernment, and for the nation the return to the meth- 

 ods of peace and the limitation of power. 



Resolved, That it is alike the duty of honest men 

 of all parties to expose corruption, denounce the 

 usurpation of power, and work for reforms necessary 

 for the public welfare. The^ times demand an up- 

 rising of honest citizens to sweep from power men 

 who prostitute their official positions to selfish inter- 

 ests. 



Resolved, That we repudiate with scorn the oft-re- 

 peated slander of our opponents, that the Democracy 

 of Connecticut are in favor of repudiating any por- 

 tion of the national debt, even so much as has been 

 fastened upon us by extravagance and fraud, and 

 that we are for paying that debt to its last dollar. 



Resolved, That the Democratic party, remember- 

 ing the example of their fathers in the expression of 

 their sympathy for the struggling republics of South 

 America, as well as for the oppressed Greeks, and 

 grateful for the aid which the founders of our own 

 republic received from the countrymen of Lafayette, 

 Montgomery, Steuben, and Pulaski, feel impelled by 

 these considerations, as_well as our obligations to our 

 common humanity, to lift up our voices in behalf of 

 the suffering Cubans, now desperately struggling for 

 relief from their oppressors, who set at naught all 

 the usages of civilized warfare in their savage butch- 

 ery of captive men, women, and children. 



Resolved, That we are in favor of a liberal system 

 of free schools, and protest against all interference, 

 by the General Government, with institutions so 

 purely local and concerning so deeply and tenderly 

 the ties which bind them to our homes and to the 

 State. 



Resolved, That we look back with pride and satis- 

 faction to the government of our State, while admin- 

 istered in its executive department by our distin- 

 guished citizen, James E. English, under whose 

 name we have won brilliant victories in defence of 

 the constitution, and whom we should have been 

 glad to have as our leader again, if it had been con- 

 sistent with his private concerns to yield his consent. 



Resolved. That in presenting the Hon. Richard D. 

 Hubbard for Governor, and his associates on the 

 State ticket, to the citizens of this State for their suf- 



